Some parents in Kuje Area Council, FCT, have prevented their children from receiving measles vaccination in the ongoing immunisation in the area.
The Primary Health Care Coordinator of the council, Haruna Agwai, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday at Kuje
According to him, some parents at Gaube, Pegi and Chibiri wards prevented health workers from immunising their children.
“Some families have the fear and believe that there are plans to reduce population as their reason for preventing their children from receiving the vaccine.
“While some schools do not grant access to health workers to vaccinate children without the presence of their parents.
“When we encounter such cases, we normally educate them on the importance of getting their chil

Scientists yesterday said a new blood and urine test that could detect autism early in children’s urine and blood, was underway.
The researchers from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom (UK), said their test could lead to earlier diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), a major factor that was key in the management of children living with the condition.
A new study, which unveiled this development, was published in the Molecular Autism journal. Autism, or ASD, refers to a range of conditions characterised by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviours, speech and non-verbal communication, as well as by unique strengths and differences.
Diagnosing autism over the years, especially in developing countries including Nigeria, has been a difficult task and this, in

Worldwide, an estimated 140 million births take place every year and most of these occur without complications for women and their babies, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
Nothemba Simelela, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Family, Women, Children and Adolescents, stated this while issuing new guidelines on global care standards throughout labour and immediately after childbirth.
The WHO official said the new guidelines aimed at reducing the use of needless and potentially harmful routine clinical and medical interventions.
Simelela said: “We want women to give birth in a safe environment with skilled birth attendants in well-equipped facilities.
“However, the increasing medicalisation of normal childbirth processes are undermining a woman’s own capability to g

* They spend less than 90 minutes daily outdoors in natural light
Millions of children are at risk of long-term eye damage because they’re failing to spend enough time outside in natural light, a leading expert has warned.
David Allamby, an ophthalmologist and director of London’s Focus Clinic, claims a lack of sunlight is leaving youngsters at risk of short-sightedness.
Soaking up sun prevents the condition, meaning those who stay indoors playing on their phones risk myopia – which can eventually cause blindness.
His warning comes days after shocking data published by the Office for National Statistics, which revealed children spend just 16 minutes outdoors each day.
Allamby advised parents should ensure their screen-addicted children spend at least 90 minutes outside each

UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Jayathma Wickramanayake, has condemned the practice of female genital mutilation, saying it was not acceptable in the 21st century.
Wickramanayake spoke at an international forum in the Gambia on strategies to combat the practice, a day ahead of the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation.
The UN youth envoy underscored that the ghastly practice was an aversion to the human rights of millions and kept them from achieving their full potential.
“This is not acceptable and this is done in the name of tradition, culture, religion or in the name of ensuring that women are to take on subservient roles to the men they will eventually marry.
“This is not acceptable in the 21st century,” Wickramanayake said.
Globally, ov

Women receive mixed messages about the ways giving birth may affect their sex lives, according to a new report. Although studies don’t show a difference between post-delivery effects for vaginal births versus C-sections, media messages - especially dramatic reality TV shows - may lead women to be more fearful of what vaginal delivery might do to their sexuality, researchers wrote in the journal - Birth.
Popular TV shows tend to portray vaginal births as negative and C-sections as positive for post-birth sex life concerns such as vaginal stretching or tearing, said study co-author Dr. Caroline Pukall of Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada.
According to the National Institutes of Health, however, research hasn’t shown any differences in sexuality after childbirth based on the mode of del

A one-year-old girl who had a stroke in the womb that caused several life-threatening health conditions is experiencing small victories by talking, scooting and clapping.
Naomi Kretschmer suffers from epilepsy, cerebral palsy and is partially paralyzed on the right side of her body due to a brain hemorrhage that caused permanent damage to the parts of the brain that control language and reasoning.
At 36 weeks pregnant, her mother Melanie, 28, had not felt Naomi kick in more than a day and went to a nearby hospital in Wisconsin where an ultrasound revealed the baby was in distress.
Within an hour the now-mother-of-two was under general anesthesia for an emergency c-section to deliver the baby who was seizing and needed to be resuscitated.
Nineteen months later, despite her condi...

Kaduna State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Hafsat Baba, on Wednesday said investigation has commenced on the disappearance of a day-old-baby at Yusuf Dantsoho General Hospital, Kaduna.
The baby, whose parents were deaf and dumb, was allegedly stolen by a woman hours after delivery on Jan. 10.
Baba said her ministry was liaising with that of Health to unravel the circumstances that led to the disappearance of the baby.
“We are working to ensure that the baby is traced and returned to her mother.’’
“We are appealing to the ministry of health to thoroughly investigate all personnel on duty at the time.
“We are also involving the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps Child Protection Desk to conduct their investigations on the matter.
“This not the first this is

A geneticist, Prof. Adeyinka Falusi, says regular blood transfusion can help decrease the prevalence of stroke in children with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD).
Falusi, who is the President of the Sickle Cell Hope Alive Foundation (SCHAF), Ibadan, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Ibadan.
According to her, children with SCD have a high risk of stroke and recurrent stroke with consequent paralysis or death.
“Stroke in children with sickle cell disease continue to be a major cause of severe disability and it is always a shock for people to learn that a child can have a stroke.
“Sickle cell disease is the most common cause of childhood stroke. Stroke occurs in 17 to 24 per cent of children with SCD, most often between the ages of three and 1

Have you ever seen the picture of a kangaroo carrying its child? If you have, then you have a clear picture of what kangaroo care is all about. Kangaroo care or Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is a method of holding a baby that involves skin to skin contact. The baby who is naked except for the diaper and a piece of clothing, is placed in an upright position against a parent’s bare chest. The snuggling of the baby inside the pouch of the parent’s shirt, which is like a kangaroo’s pouch led to the term kangaroo care.
Kangaroo care originated from Bogota, Columbia, where it was developed as an alternative to inadequate and insufficient incubator care for preterm newborn infants. Babies were dying of infections, respiratory problems and just plain lack of attention Researchers Rey and Martinez fo

A new study has revealed that children who eat fish at least once a week get better sleep and have a higher IQ. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania in the report published in MailOnline revealed that omega-3s, the fatty acids in fish, improve kid’s intelligence and found that those who ate more scored 4.8 points higher on an IQ test than children who said they rarely ate the seafood.
Those same children also reported getting a better night’s sleep, which previous studies have linked to higher intelligence. The findings they said are the first of its kind that show sleep as the link between fish and heightened intelligence, leading researchers to suggest introducing kids to fish as young as 10 months old to improve overall cognition throughout their lives.
The researchers

Seventeen million babies under the age of one are breathing toxic air, putting their brain development at risk, the UN children’s agency has warned.
Babies in South Asia were worst affected, with more than 12 million living in areas with pollution six times higher than safe levels.
A further four million were at risk in East Asia and the Pacific.
Unicef said breathing particulate air pollution could damage brain tissue and undermine cognitive development.
Its report said there was a link to “verbal and non-verbal IQ and memory, reduced test scores, grade point averages among schoolchildren, as well as other neurological behavioural problems”.
The effects lasted a lifetime, it said.
“As more and more of the world urbanises, and without adequate protection and pollution red

A miracle has occurred in India after a newborn declared dead by a doctor was seen breathing again some hours later while the parents and other family members were on their way to his funeral.
The boy’s mother gave birth to twins Thursday at the Max Super Speciality Hospital in the Indian capital of New Delhi.
Doctors said one of the twins, a baby girl, was stillborn.
They initially said the boy was in critical condition, but two hours later he was declared dead, Praveen Malik, the twin’s grandfather, told CNN.
The parents were on their way to a cremation ground when they noticed “some movements” inside one of the polythene bags that the hospital gave them with the babies’ bodies.
“When we opened the bag, we found the boy breathing. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe my eyes,

The Executive Director of Nasarawa State Aids Control Agency, Dr Zakari Umar, said 54 babies delivered between January and September in the state tested positive to HIV.
Umar made this known on Thursday in Lafia in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
Umar said out of the 1,194 pregnant women who keyed into the Prevention of Mother- to- Child Transmission HIV programme in 2017, 54 of them transmitted the virus to their babies.
He explained that cases of transmission recorded were due to the lack of adherence to medical advice and refusal to take prescribed drugs.
“Science has proved that it is possible to totally eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV if pregnant women living with the virus adhere to medical advice and take their drugs regularly.
“Those women

A baby girl born with several rare syndromes ‘never seen in one patient’ will need surgery every six months until she is 18 years old.
Eight-month-old Zoey Tidwell, from Saucier in Mississippi, battles an array of complications, including undergrown facial bones, a large cleft palate and breathing difficulties, just to name a few.
Zoey has no bones around her eye sockets, with her jaw also missing chunks of bone, leaving her unable to eat or learn to talk.
The youngster, who suffers from Treacher Collins Syndrome, as well as other conditions, had her first operation at just five months old and requires a tube to feed her directly into her stomach.
Her mother, Megan, 27, who also has TCS, said: “Without the surgeries, her outlook is pretty bleak, and her quality of life will no